A/N: As requested, here is the first chapter of the extended version of Died as a Ghost.
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Chapter 1 - They don't see me...
"Sam...?" Mrs. Manson poked her head in the door. "It's time to go." Her daughter made no response. She just sat on her black chair staring out the window into the rain. Just as her mother began to repeat her name, Sam stood and turned to the door. No responses. No words. She wanted nothing more than for the world to be silent so her thoughts could be drowned out by the sounds of the rain.
On this day, the one day when her parents would make no objection to a simple black dress, Sam wore the flowing silver shirt with a plain pair of white capris, the one he'd said she'd look beautiful wearing. The one that had been pulled out of the back of the closet where every other colorful thing her parents bought for her was stashed.
Black wasn't right today. It was too expected, too every-day.
To normal...
But today wasn't normal. It was a day she would never forget. Not that she ever wanted to. She wanted this day to never even come. But it would. Just like every day after it. Everyday where she'd live her life. Sam Manson, the ultro-recyclo-vegetarian Goth girl of Casper High.
But today... just for today... she didn't want to be herself. She wished she could be someone else. Someone who didn't know what was happening. Someone who wouldn't feel this slow throb in her chest.
No dark make-up...
No top ponytail...
No heavy combat boots...
Nothing that made her who she was.
Her father said nothing as he opened the car door for her, holding the umbrella over both their heads. Sam slid into the car, buckled her seatbelt, folded her hands in her lap, then just stared out at the grey landscape.
How long would it be until the rest of the town noticed? When would everyone make the connection? Would it be in a day? A week? A month? Would it take years before anyone figured it out? What was his family thinking now that they knew?
It had been impossible, that day, to hide the change. She'd been in shock. So had Tucker for that matter. It had happened right in front of them, in that few seconds. They had never known how vulnerable those seconds made him every single time. How many times had she watched him transform, never knowing what could go wrong? How many times had she said it was cool that he was a superhero? Had she pushed him into this? Could she have stopped him that day?
"Sam?"
Sam slowly looked up to see Tucker standing by the open door. He wore the same dark blue suit he had worn to their last school dance. His thick glasses were spotted with raindrops that he had not bothered to wipe off, and his typical red beret covering his head. He didn't look the least bit surprised by her appearance. He seemed to be the only one that understood. He had been the only other one there.
Cars parked and people entered the church. People would come up and offer condolences, but Sam barely heard them. She didn't respond to anyone. Why should she? So many of them had said her voice sounded like a man's rasp. Only he had told her that her voice was beautiful... and he would never hear it again.
She couldn't bare to go look at him. She knew she would at some point, but not yet. She didn't want to see the way half of his hair was its original black while the other half was silvery white. She didn't want to see his eyes closed as if in sleep, knowing that one was green and the other blue. The color gone from only half his face. A black spandex suit underneath the dress suit, covering only half his body, the way that one hand would have that white glove while the other was bare. And that wound which had been impossible to stich up over the half that was dripping ectoplasm.
"Danny. What can I say about him? He was a bright kid. Managed to drag my son outside on days when all he wanted to do was play with his computers. Danny was special. More special than any of us parents would really know until it was too late."
"Whenever Danny would hide things from me, I would know them anyway. He wasn't so good at lying, the only times he got away with it were when he wanted to avoid hurting someone. He hid his feelings a lot because he didn't want to worry people. He shouldered more trouble for himself because he knew it would make things easier for others. We weren't above fighting though. But that was just our way. It's what siblings do."
"When I think back on all those years we were in the same class, I cringe at how many times I didn't realize what a great guy he was. Even during our first time working together on a class project, I still thought he was an insensitive jerk. Boy did he prove me wrong. Practically did the whole project himself. Actually... Considering I wouldn't have even survived that experience if it weren't for his help I guess he really did do it himself. I only wish I'd known. I did some horrible things to him."
The remembrances went on. One person after another would come up and share some experience that Danny had helped them even when they didn't know. If someone not there today, were to ask any of them if Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom. None would deny it... but they also didn't plan on telling the town what they had lost.
Let them figure it out themselves.
Let them see the rise in ghost attacks, with no hero flying in to the rescue. Let everyone that called him a menace know how much he had done for them. But they wouldn't know would they... The ghosts would be captured by everyone that remained. Tucker wouldn't stop, he would try all that much harder to continue the job that his best friend had started. He had asked Sam to help, but she asked him to wait a few days for her answer... for a few days...
Oh... had it been five days already? It had to have been enough time to alert his family and for them to arrange the funeral. Sam couldn't remember though. The green skies of the Ghost Zone made them all blend together. She had searched. He couldn't be... He was part ghost... and they were already...
Sam couldn't bring herself to think that word. That word that made it all final.
Once all the warm words were spoken, and before the casket was to be closed, Sam made her way up to take one last look. Tucker stood beside her, holding her hand to give her the strength. Even so, the dressed-in-white-Goth still broke down into her friends arms. The tears wouldn't stop. She had thought she'd run out after last night... after every night since that one... but they kept flowing, even blending into the falling of the rain as the cars made their slow procession.
Tucker sat with her and Jazz in the back of the Fenton's car. Everyone that was closest to Danny; none could even manage to say a single word of comfort even if it was what they all needed. Even the usual loud attitude of the bumbling Jack Fenton was missing. Neither of the parents spoke as they followed the car that carried their son's body.
The rain seemed to blot out everything.
Sam?
The preacher spoke a few more prayers and everyone began placing their flowers on the casket.
Can't you hear me?
"How can any of this be happening..." Sam spoke softly, questioning the sealed wood tomb.
Please... Sam... I'm right here... Just look at me! Sam! Why won't you look at me!? Please!
Tucker broke down to. He couldn't keep it in any longer. The two of them held each other as they cried, and everyone just let them.
Tucker! Stop crying and Look at me! I'm right here!
But no one heard, no one saw the small green orb floating high in the sky. Unable to move, unable to breath, it was all that remained of Danny Phantom. A soul that would never be complete. Could not touch, could not feel... could not let go.
but was some how able to cry.
As Sam placed her white rose on the casket. "you said you'd always be there for me..."
I will be Sam... I promise I'll never leave you again. But she couldn't hear him.
One by one, people left that cold cemetery to get out of the rain. And even as Sam and Tucker walked away, that small green orb floated down and looked at the stone that stood beside where his body was being lowered into the ground.
Danny Fenton
1992~2008
Son, Friend, Hero.
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Chapter 1 end.
Well what'd you think? Next chapter will be Sam and Tucker's first day(s) back at school. Or that's the plan anyway. Hope I didn't make you cry too much.
Please review!
so I can know if my writing style is good and if you're really moved by this story. What's good and What's bad about what you've read? Were there any grammar errors? Simple stuff like that would be a huge pick-me-up after writing this chapter. Even though I wrote it doesn't mean it won't depress the living hell out of me.